System for determining rental of construction machine

ABSTRACT

A construction machine rental fee setting system comprises a receiver, provided at a location remote from a construction machine, that receives information relating to the usage conditions and/or the usage environment of the construction machine transmitted from the construction machine, and a rental fee setting device that sets a construction machine rental fee based on the information received at the receiver.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates to a rental fee setting system forsetting rental fees for construction machines.

BACKGROUND ART

[0002] In rental procedures for construction machines (for examplehydraulic excavators), it is common practice not to charge a rental feefor the day that contact is received from a user that a machine is notin use due to bad weather. With this type of system, the user mustcontact the rental company each day that a machine is idle.

[0003] There are hydraulic excavators capable of a crane operation witha hook attached to a bucket. These types of hydraulic excavator areprovided with an overload protector (a Moment Limiter: hereafterreferred to as ML) as a crane safety device. It is common practice withrental companies to bill clients by adding a fee for use of the ML tothe normal rental fee in the event that the user has utilized the ML.Specifically, oil becomes degraded significantly when using the ML andit makes a change of oil necessary earlier than usual, so that a largerrental fee shall be charged than for when the ML is not used. There arealso situations where a breaker is used instead of the bucket, and anadditional usage charge will also be added in such cases, for similarreasons. Generally, the users themselves have been trusted to notify therental company of whether or not an ML or breaker has been used, withthe result that it has not always been possible to charge an appropriaterental fee.

[0004] Also, the load imposed on a construction machine varies dependingon usage conditions (for example, workload, traveling load, working timeetc.), and so it is desired to reflect these usage conditions and theusage environment in the rental charge. However, it is currentlydifficult for a rental company to accurately ascertain the usageconditions and usage environment of a construction machine, and there isno system available that enables setting of a rental fee taking thesefactors in to consideration.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

[0005] The object of the present invention is to provide a constructionmachine rental fee setting system that is capable of ascertaining usageconditions and usage environment of a construction machine withoutnotification from a user, to charge an appropriate rental fee.

[0006] In order to achieve this object, a construction machine rentalfee setting system of the present invention comprises a receiver,provided at a location that is remote from the construction machine, forreceiving information relating to the usage conditions and/or the usageenvironment of the construction machine transmitted from theconstruction machine, and a rental fee setting device for setting theconstruction machine rental fee based on the information received at thereceiver.

[0007] According to the present invention, it is possible to set anappropriate construction machine rental fee because the rental fee isset based on the information relating to the usage conditions and theusage environment of the construction machine in question.

[0008] Information relating to the usage conditions of the constructionmachine includes information relating to workload, information relatingto traveling load, information relating to working time, informationrelating to swiveling time, information relating to traveling time ofthe construction machine, and information relating to whether or not anyspecial functions other than normal functions have been used.

[0009] Information relating to the usage environment of the constructionmachine includes information relating to the site the constructionmachine is being used at, and information relating to weather.

[0010] In a construction machine rental fee setting system of anotheraspect of the invention, a detector for detecting the location of aconstruction machine, a measurement device for measuring operatingconditions of the construction machine, and a transmitter fortransmitting information relating to location and operating conditions,are provided in the construction machine, while a receiving stationcomprises a receiver for receiving information transmitted from theconstruction machine, a weather information acquisition unit forobtaining weather information for the locality indicated by the receivedlocation information, and a data processor for correlating andoutputting information relating to the received operating conditions andthe acquired weather information.

[0011] According to this aspect of the present invention, the locationinformation and the information relating to operating conditions aretransmitted from the construction machine (rented machine) side, whileat the receive station side weather information for the localityindicated by the received location information is acquired, and alsoinformation relating to the received operating conditions and theacquired weather information are correlated and output. As a result, itis possible to ascertain whether or not a construction machine has beenoperated without relying on notification from the user, and to charge anappropriate rental fee. By showing weather information for the localitywhere the construction machine is located, it is also possible to notifythe user of a billing for operating a hydraulic excavator even in rainyweather, making it possible to avoid the occurrence of problems.

[0012] In a construction machine rental charge system of further anotheraspect of the present invention, a measurement device for measuring timespent using special functions, besides the normal functions, and atransmitter for transmitting information representing measured specialfunction operating time, are provided in the construction machine. Areceiving station has a receiver for receiving the transmittedinformation.

[0013] According to this aspect of the invention, since the amount oftime spent using special functions other than normal functions ismeasured at the construction machine side and transmitted, and then thisinformation is received at the receiving station side to set a specialfunction usage charge, it is possible to accurately ascertain whether ornot any special functions have been used without relying on notificationfrom the user, and to set an appropriate rental fee.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014]FIG. 1 is a schematic drawing of a rental fee setting system of afirst embodiment of the present invention.

[0015]FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing information collection processingfor a hydraulic excavator.

[0016]FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing information communication processingfor a hydraulic excavator.

[0017]FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing processing in a base station.

[0018]FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing processing in a rental company.

[0019]FIG. 6 is a drawing showing one example of a charge table createdat a rental company.

[0020]FIG. 7 is a schematic drawing of a rental fee setting system of asecond embodiment of the present invention.

[0021]FIG. 8 is a block diagram for information collection and inputoutput processing for a hydraulic excavator.

[0022]FIG. 9 is a drawing showing content of daily report data.

[0023]FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing information collection processingfor a hydraulic excavator.

[0024]FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing information communicationprocessing for a hydraulic excavator.

[0025]FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing processing at a base station side.

[0026]FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing processing at a rental companyside.

[0027]FIG. 14 is a drawing showing one example of a charge table createdusing the processing of FIG. 13.

[0028]FIG. 15 is a block diagram for information collection andinput/output processing at a hydraulic excavator of a third embodimentof the present invention.

[0029]FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing a control system in a rentalcompany.

[0030]FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing one example of informationcollection processing for a hydraulic excavator.

[0031]FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing one example of rental fee settingprocessing for a rental company.

[0032]FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing processing flow up to bill creationand bill transmittal based on a rental fee calculated and stored usingthe processing of FIG. 18.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0033] -First Embodiment-

[0034] An embodiment of a rental fee setting system according to thepresent invention will now be described by applying it to a hydraulicexcavator using FIG. 1-FIG. 6.

[0035] This embodiment is for enabling a rental company to acquireweather information for a construction site and reflect this weatherinformation in a rental fee.

[0036]FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the system of this embodiment.GPS control units 11 mounted separately in each hydraulic excavator 10calculate location information for each hydraulic excavator 10 (in whichthey are mounted) by receiving radio signals from a plurality of GPSsatellites 21. The calculated location information is input to a maincontrol unit 12. The location information here is, for example,geographic information (i.e., information about latitude and longitude).The main control unit 12 measures operating time of its own machine andstores the information in a memory 12B, and also transmits informationrelating to this operating time and the detected location informationfrom a transmission section 12A at a predetermined time every day, aswill be described later. Information to be transmitted is a variety ofinformation such as fault information etc., as well as the abovedescribed operating time information and location information.

[0037] Information transmitted from a hydraulic excavator 10 is sent viaa communications satellite 22 to a specified management server. Withthis embodiment, a mail server 30 is used as the management server. Onthe other hand, a center server 41 is located in a base station (forexample, the main office or a branch office of a construction machinecompany) 40 for managing the hydraulic excavators 10, enabling readingof information sent from the mail server 30, and transmission ofinformation by mail etc. to each terminal unit 51 or 61 of a user or therental company, as required.

[0038] Next, a specific processing example will be described withreference to the flowcharts of FIG. 2 to FIG. 5.

[0039]FIG. 2 shows processing of the main control unit 12 of eachhydraulic excavator 10. Once the engine is turned on, the time at thatmoment is stored in the memory 12B as the engine start time (step S1).After that, if it is determined that the engine has been shut off (stepS2) the stored engine start time is subtracted from the time at thatmoment (engine stop time) to calculate an operating time for thehydraulic excavator 10 (step S3). The calculated operating time is thenadded to the operating time for that day currently stored, and thisvalue is stored in the memory 12B (step S4). If there is no operatingtime for that day stored yet, the calculated operating time is stored asit is. The total operating time for one day is then finally stored inthe memory 12B.

[0040]FIG. 3 shows communication processing for the main control unit12. If it is determined that a predetermined transmission time has beenreached, (step S11), location information at that point in time isobtained from the GPS control unit 11 (step S12). Operating time for oneday is also read out from the memory 12B (step S13). That operating timeand location information is then transmitted together with an ID numberfor identifying that hydraulic excavator 10 and the date (step S14).Here, transmission is carried out late at night when the hydraulicexcavator is not operating, and total operating time for the previousday is transmitted every day.

[0041] Transmitted information from each hydraulic excavator 10 is sentthrough the communications satellite 22 to the mail server 30, asdescribed above, and information is transferred from the mail server 30to the base station 40.

[0042]FIG. 4 shows processing for the center server 41 of the basestation 40. It is determined whether or not information transmitted fromthe hydraulic excavator 10 has arrived (step S21), and if informationhas arrived that information is read from the mail server 30 (step S22).The read information is transmitted by email or the like to the rentalcompany 60 (step S23).

[0043]FIG. 5 shows processing for a terminal unit 61 of the rentalcompany 60. If it is determined that mail has arrived from the basestation 40 (step S31), the content of that mail is read out and locationinformation and operating time information for the hydraulic excavator10 in question are ascertained (step S32). Weather information for thelocality indicated by the read out location information is also acquired(step S33). This weather information may be acquired by, for example,preliminarily storing weather information for that day for each regionfrom the internet and then selecting items that match the locationinformation from the total weather information, or by connecting to theinternet at the time when acquiring weather information. Whichevermethod is adopted, it is necessary to use weather information that isaccurate over a comparatively narrow region (for example, within aradius of 20 km).

[0044] Next, it is determined whether or not the read out operating timefor one day is, for example, one hour or more (step S34), and if it isone hour or more, a standard usage fee is set (step S35). If the usagetime is less than one hour, the usage fee is set to 0 (step S36). Chargedata correlating to the date, the region that the hydraulic excavator 10exists in, weather for that region, whether or not the hydraulicexcavator 10 was operated (whether or not operating time was an hour ormore), and the usage fee, is then stored in a storage medium such ashard disc (step S37).

[0045] The above described processing of FIG. 5 is executed each timemail is received from the base station 40, thus the charge data of aplurality of hydraulic excavators 10 are stored for a number of days.The stored data is then read out as required, and a charge table such asthat shown, for example, in FIG. 6 is created. The rental fee will bebilled to the user referring to this charge table.

[0046] With this embodiment, it is therefore possible to bill anaccurate amount without relying on notification from a user, because arental fee is set based on operating time transmitted from eachhydraulic excavator 10. Also, by displaying weather information for eachday in a charge table, it is possible to clearly notify a user ofcharging for operation even if it is a rainy day, making it possible toavoid the occurrence of problems.

[0047] In the above description, a specified time for operation of ahydraulic excavator has been made one hour, but this time can beappropriately set according to the type of rental. As another way ofusing weather information, it is also possible to consider a systemwhere even if there is operation of one hour or more on a rainy day, forexample, it is determined that this accompanies traveling, and isautomatically not charged. Further, in the above description weatherinformation is acquired at the rental company side, but it is alsopossible to acquire the weather information at the base station side,transmit information correlating the operating time and the weatherinformation to the rental company side, and create a charge table in therental company.

[0048] -Second Embodiment-

[0049] A second embodiment of the present invention will now bedescribed using FIG. 7-FIG. 14.

[0050] In this embodiment, it is automatically determined whether or notspecialized functions such as the above described ML (moment limiter) orbreaker have been used, and the results of determination are reflectedin a rental fee.

[0051]FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 are schematic diagrams of the system of thisembodiment, and structural elements that are the same as those in FIG. 1have the same reference numerals attached thereto.

[0052] A plurality of hydraulic excavators 10 in the drawings are allowned by a rental company 60. Each hydraulic excavator 10 comprises aGPS control unit 11 and a main control unit 12, the same as the previousembodiment. The main control unit 12 collects information representingusage conditions of that hydraulic excavator 10 for one day. Thecollected information is used at the base station 40 side when creatinga daily report, and may be as shown in FIG. 9.

[0053] Information shown in FIG. 9 (hereafter called daily report data)is measured based on output from various switches and sensors providedin the hydraulic excavator 10. Included in this information an engineoperating time is obtained based on ON and OFF operations of an enginestart switch SW3. Also, an ML operation time and a breaker operatingtime are obtained based on operation of an ML switch SW1 and a breakerswitch SW2 respectively. The ML switch SW1 is turned on when the ML isused, and turned off when the ML is not in use. The main control unit 12causes the maximum discharge amount of a main hydraulic pump to bereduced lower than at the time of normal operation when the ML switch isturned ON. Also, the breaker switch SW2 is provided in a breakeractuating hydraulic circuit (a pilot circuit) and is a pressure switchthat turns on when the breaker is in use.

[0054] The daily report data are transmitted from the transmissionsection 12A at a predetermined time every day. The transmitted data issent to the base station 40 through the communications satellite 22 andthe mail server 30, as described above. Transmission information isvarious information besides the daily report data, such as locationinformation and fault information of the hydraulic excavator.

[0055] Next, a specific example of processing of this embodiment will bedescribed with reference to the flowcharts of FIG. 10-FIG. 13.

[0056] The processing of FIG. 10 is for measuring ML operating time andis executed periodically in the main control unit 12 of each hydraulicexcavator 10 while the engine is turned on. If it is determined that theML switch SW1 is on (step S101) and that a timer is not operating (stepS102), the timer built in to the main control unit 12 is started (stepS103). On the other hand, if it is determined that ML switch SW1 is off(Step S101), and that the timer is running (step S104), the timer isstopped (step S105). The time clocked by this timer, namely the timefrom when the ML switch SW1 is turned on until it is turned off, is thenobtained, that time is added to the ML operating time for that daycurrently stored and stored in the memory 12B (step S106). Therefore,the ML operating time for one day is finally stored in the memory 12B.

[0057] A description has only been given above for a method of measuringML operating time, but breaker operating time can also be measured in asimilar way using the breaker switch SW2 and stored in the memory 12B.It is also possible to measure the other daily report data shown in FIG.3 using processing that has not been shown in the drawings and to storethese data in the memory 12B in a similar manner.

[0058]FIG. 11 shows communication processing carried out in the maincontrol unit 12 of the hydraulic excavator 10. If it has been determinedthat a predetermined transmission time has arrived (step S111), dailyreport data is read from the memory 12B (step S112) and that dailyreport data is transmitted together with an ID No. for identifying thathydraulic excavator 10 (step S113). In this example, transmission iscarried out late at night when the volume of other communications isrelatively small and daily report data for the previous day aretransmitted every day.

[0059] Transmitted information from each hydraulic excavator 10 is sentvia a communications satellite 22 to the mail server 30, as describedabove, and transferred to the base station 40.

[0060]FIG. 12 shows processing in a center server 41 of the base station40. It is determined whether or not information has arrived from ahydraulic excavator 10 (step S121), and if information has arrived, thatinformation is read in (step S122). A daily report is then created basedon the read-in information (here it is daily report data) (step S123),and that daily report is transmitted to a user 50 using email or thelike (step S124). In the case of a hydraulic excavator 10 owned by arental company 60, the same information is also transmitted to therental company 60.

[0061]FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing one example of processing in aterminal unit 61 of the rental company 60, and this is processing for asingle hydraulic excavator 10. Information (daily report) from the basestation 40 has already been received, and also, the operating time, MLoperating time and breaker operating time of the excavator for one dayhave been obtained.

[0062] If it is determined, for example, that operating time of theexcavator for that day is less than one hour (step S131), processingreturns without performing charge setting. Specifically, in the eventthat operating time is less than one hour, a rental fee is not billed.On the other hand, if operating time is one hour or more, a normal usagecharge is calculated (step S132). If it is determined that ML operatingtime is one hour or more (step S133), a standard ML usage fee iscalculated (S134), while if the ML operating time is less than one hour,the ML usage fee is set to 0 (step S135). Similarly, if it is determinedthat breaker operating time is one hour or more (step S136), a standardbreaker usage fee is calculated (S137), while if the breaker operatingtime is less than one hour, the breaker usage fee is set to 0 (stepS138). The ML usage fee and the breaker usage fee are then added to thenormal usage fee to give a charge that is the rental fee for that day(step S139).

[0063]FIG. 14 shows one example of the result of carrying out the abovedescribed processing over a period of several days.

[0064] With this embodiment, usage time of specialized functions otherthan normal functions, called ML operating time and breaker operatingtime, are measured at the hydraulic excavator side and transmitted. Thistransmission information passes through the base station 40 and isreceived at the rental company 60, where an ML usage fee and a breakerusage fee are set based on received information at the rental companyside. With this type of system, it is possible to accurately ascertainwhether or not the ML or breaker have been used without relying onnotification from a user, making it possible to charge an appropriaterental fee.

[0065] It is also possible for the above described normal charge for oneday to be a predetermined amount, or to correspond to the usage time asdisclosed in, for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No.H8-273015. Although a criterion for determining operation of thehydraulic excavator has been set to one hour, it is also possible toappropriately set this time depending on the type of rental. Thespecialized functions are not limited to the ML and breaker, and may beother functions that require a separate usage fee to be added to thenormal charge. In the above description, description has been given fora situation where daily report data is transmitted to a base station,but it is also possible to transmit directly to the rental company 60.

[0066] -Third Embodiment-

[0067] A third embodiment of the present invention will now be describedusing FIG. 15-FIG. 19.

[0068] This embodiment is for setting rental fees taking various usageconditions and usage environments of a hydraulic excavator 10 intoconsideration.

[0069] When an operating load or traveling load is heavy, the burdenplaced on the hydraulic excavator 10 is large compared to when the loadis light, so that the life span of various parts is shortened.Therefore, it is desirable to charge a higher rental fee when theoperating load or traveling load is heavier. The hydraulic excavator 10of this embodiment makes it possible to acquire information relating tooperating load and traveling load by detecting discharge pressure of ahydraulic pump etc. used in operation and traveling using a pressuresensor 13 (see FIG. 15). This information can be, for example, the timeover which detected pressure exceeds a specified value, or an averagepressure value.

[0070] Work carried out by the hydraulic excavator 10 is classified into“working”, “swiveling” and “traveling”. As working time is prolonged,damage to components on the working front becomes more severe, and thelonger swiveling time becomes the greater the damage to componentsconstituting a swiveling wheel. Similarly, as traveling time increases,the more damage to undercarriage components increases. This means thatthere is a desire to set the rental fee for the hydraulic excavator 10taking into account the working time, traveling time and swiveling time.In the hydraulic excavator 10 of this embodiment the operating time,swiveling time and traveling time can be separately measured. Thesetimes may be actuator operating times governing respective jobs, ortimes over which pressure of respective hydraulic circuits is greaterthan a predefined value. It may also be the time over which respectiveoperating members are being operated.

[0071] With respect to a working location, for example, there will a lotmore corrosion of the hydraulic excavator 10 when working on the coastcompared to working at a normal location, and since working inside atunnel involves a lot of dust, damage to the hydraulic excavator 10 willbe more severe. There is therefore also a desire to set the rental feeof the hydraulic excavator 10 taking into account the working location.The working location can be identified from location informationdetected using the above described GPS control unit 11.

[0072] Previously, examples were described assuming that work was notcarried out when it was raining, but the work is sometimes carried outeven though it is raining, such as, when the work is behind schedule.Since working in rainy weather promotes corrosion, it is more likelythat the hydraulic excavator 10 will be damaged compared to working infine weather. There is thus a need for the rental fee to take in toaccount weather information. A rental fee in the case of usingspecialized functions such as a ML or a breaker will be set as describedin the second embodiment.

[0073] As shown in FIG. 16, a loan management database 62 is provided inthe rental company 60 owning the hydraulic excavators 10. This database62 contains data such as a loaned machine ID No., machine type,specifications (including whether or not there is a ML or breaker isprovided), and loan period organized into each user to which a machinehas been loaned. A terminal unit 61, sets a rental fee as will bedescribed later based on information that has been transmitted from thehydraulic excavator 10 and information stored in the database 62.

[0074] A specific example of control for this embodiment will now bedescribed with reference to the flow charts of FIG. 17-FIG. 19.

[0075]FIG. 17 shows processing in the main control unit 12 of thehydraulic excavator 10. If the engine is started, an operating loadwhich is detection output from the pressure sensor 13, is read in (stepS201) and it is determined whether or not this pressure is greater thanor equal to a predetermined value (step S202). If the pressure isgreater than or equal to the specified value, it is determined whetheror not a timer is running (step S203), and if the timer is not runningit is started in step S204 and processing returns to the start. If thepressure is less than the predetermined value, it is determined whetheror not the timer is running (step S205). If the timer is running, it isstopped (step S206), and an elapsed time from starting to stopping ofthe timer is added to a time already stored, and stored newly in thememory 12B (step S207). Therefore, the time over which the working loadis kept at or higher than the predefined value is stored in the memory12B.

[0076] As shown in FIG. 17, an example of measuring the time over whichthe working load is at or greater than a predefined working load hasbeen described, the traveling load is also measured using a similarprocedure. In fact, the working time, swiveling time and traveling timeare all measured in a similar manner. A procedure for obtaining ML andbreaker usage time and location information for the hydraulic excavator10 has been described in the previous embodiment. The obtained timeinformation is stored in the memory 12B correlated to an ID No. foridentifying the hydraulic excavator 10.

[0077] Information stored in the memory 12B is read out when apredetermined transmission time is reached, as described above, andtransmitted from the transmission section 12A together with locationinformation and an ID No. The transmitted information is transferred tothe base station 40 through a communications satellite 22 and a mailserver 30, and is transmitted further to the rental company 60 usingemail, for example.

[0078]FIG. 18 shows one example of processing for the terminal unit 61of the rental company 60. This processing is to set a rental charge foreach day.

[0079] If it is determined that mail has arrived from the base station40 (step S211), the content of that mail is read out and informationrelating to the hydraulic excavator 10 in question is ascertained (stepS212). Also, similarly to the first embodiment, weather information of aregion indicated by the read in location information is acquired (stepS213). Information such as type and specifications of the hydraulicexcavator 10 in question are also read out from the loan managementdatabase 62 (step S214). A rental fee for one day is then set based oninformation from the hydraulic excavator 10 and information from thedatabase 62 (step S215).

[0080] Various methods of setting a rental fee can be considered. As oneexample, a basic charge per day is set in advance for each type ofmachine, and an amount corresponding to usage conditions andenvironmental conditions is added to the basic charge corresponding tothe type of the hydraulic excavator 10 in question (determined usinginformation from the database 62). Specific examples are shown below.

[0081] (1) A predefined charge A is added if the time over which workingload or traveling load is a predetermined value or greater exceeds apredetermined time. Alternatively, a predefined charge A is added if anaverage value of working load or traveling load exceeds a predeterminedvalue.

[0082] (2) Predefined charges B, C or D are added if working time,swiveling time or traveling time exceed respective predetermined times.

[0083] (3) A predefined charge E is added in the case of working at alocation that subjects the hydraulic excavator to severe environmentalconditions, such as on the coast or in a tunnel. The working location isdetermined from location information.

[0084] (4) A predefined charge F is added if working in rainy weather orsnowy conditions. Whether or not the weather is rainy (or snowy) isdetermined from weather information.

[0085] (5) A specified charge G is added in the case of usingspecialized functions such as a ML or breaker. The charge to be addedmay be varied according to usage time

[0086] A final rental fee for one day is set through processing forthese various items. The set rental fee is stored in the database 62correlated to the renting party (step S216).

[0087] After that, when a rental fee is charged, processing such as thatshown in FIG. 19, is executed. Specifically, all rental charge data forrental days stored in the database 62 are read out (step S221), a billedamount is calculated by adding these items of data, and a bill iscreated (step S222). The created bill is transmitted to a user (rentingparty) 50 using email, for example (step S223).

[0088] The above described processing of FIG. 18 and FIG. 19 is carriedout for each hydraulic excavator 10 of the rental company 60.

[0089] With this embodiment, since usage conditions of the hydraulicexcavator 10 (working load, traveling load, working time, swivelingtime, traveling time, and whether or not an ML or breaker is used) andenvironmental conditions (working location, weather) are obtained and arental fee is set based on this information, it is possible to set anappropriate rental fee for all usage conditions and environmentalconditions.

[0090] A rental fee may be calculated by substituting respective timeinformation into specified arithmetic expressions without determining abasic charge. By doing this, it is possible to set a more detailedcharge.

[0091] An example has been given above of setting rental fees in unitsof one day and adding them together later, but it is also possible toset a weekly or monthly rental fee by carrying out rental fee settingprocessing once a week or once a month. For example, the fee may becalculated by adding a specified charge to a basic charge in the eventthat total working time per month exceeds a predetermined time. It isexpected that the above described rental charge setting or bill creationcould be made more efficient by using dedicated software. For example,it is possible to carry out the processing shown in FIG. 18automatically without the intervention of an operator. Alternatively,rental fee setting and bill creation can be carried out throughcalculation by an operator.

[0092] In the description above, information from a hydraulic excavator10 is sent to the rental company temporarily through a base station 40such as a construction machine maker, but it is also possible to have asystem that sends information from the hydraulic excavator 10 directlyto the rental company 60. In other words, the rental company 60 maybeabase station.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

[0093] Description has been given above for a rental fee setting systemfor hydraulic excavators, but the present invention can also be appliedto a rental fee setting system for construction machines other thanhydraulic excavators (for example a crane etc.).

1. A construction machine rental fee setting system, comprising: areceiver, provided at a location remote from a construction machine,that receives information relating to usage conditions and/or usageenvironment of the construction machine transmitted from theconstruction machine, and a rental fee setting device that sets a rentalfee for the construction machine based on the information received atthe receiver.
 2. A construction machine rental fee setting system,comprising: an information acquisition unit, provided in a constructionmachine, that acquires information relating to usage conditions and/orusage environment of the construction machine; a transmitter thattransmits the information that has been acquired; a receiver, providedat a location remote from the construction machine, that receives theinformation relating to the usage conditions and/or the usageenvironment of the construction machine transmitted from thetransmitter, and a rental fee setting device that sets a rental fee forthe construction machine based on the information received at thereceiver.
 3. A construction machine rental fee setting system accordingto claim 1 or claim 2, wherein: the information relating to the usageconditions of the construction machine includes at least one ofinformation relating to a workload, information relating to a travelingload, information relating to a working time, information relating to aswiveling time, and information relating to a traveling time of theconstruction machine.
 4. A construction machine rental fee settingsystem according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein: the informationrelating to the usage conditions of the construction machine isinformation relating to whether a specialized function other than normalfunctions is used.
 5. A construction machine rental fee setting systemaccording to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein: the information relating tothe environmental conditions of the construction machine includes any ofinformation relating to a working location of the construction machineand information relating to weather.
 6. A construction machine rentalfee setting system according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein: thereceiver and the rental fee setting device are provided in a rentalcompany, and the receiver receives the information from the constructionmachine via a relay station.
 7. A construction machine rental feesetting system according to claim 6, wherein: the relay stationtransmits the information from the construction machine to the rentalcompany using an electronic mail.
 8. A construction machine rental feesetting system according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein: the rental feesetting device sets the rental fee based on the information received bythe receiver and loan data stored in a specified database.
 9. A rentalfee setting system that receives information transmitted from aconstruction machine having been rented, using a receiving station,wherein: the construction machine comprises a detector that detects alocation of the construction machine, a measurement unit that measuresoperating conditions of the construction machine, and a transmitter thattransmits the information relating to the location and the operatingconditions, and the receiving station comprises a receiver that receivesthe information transmitted from the construction machine, a weatherinformation acquisition unit that acquires weather information for aregion indicated by received location information, and a data processorthat correlates and outputs the information relating to the operatingconditions that has been received and the weather information that hasbeen acquired.
 10. A rental fee setting system according to claim 9,further comprising: a fee setting device that sets a rental fee based onthe information relating to the operating conditions that has beenreceived, and wherein; the data processor correlates and outputs theinformation relating to the operating conditions, the weatherinformation and information relating to the rental fee.
 11. A rental feesetting system that receives information transmitted from a constructionmachine having been rented, using a receiving station wherein: theconstruction machine comprises a measurement unit that measures usagetime of a specialized function other than normal functions, andtransmitter that transmits information representing a specializedfunction usage time having been measured, and the receiving stationcomprises a receiver that receives transmitted information.
 12. A rentalfee setting system according to claim 11, wherein: the receiving stationfurther comprises a fee calculating unit that calculates a usage chargefor the specialized function based on the information about thespecialized function usage time having been received.
 13. A rental feesetting system according to claim 11, wherein: a fee calculating systemoutputs fee data calculated by adding a usage charge for the specializedfunction to a normal fee.
 14. A rental fee setting system that receivesinformation transmitted from a construction machine having been rented,using a receiving station, wherein: the construction machine comprises ameasurement unit that measures a normal operating time and a usage timefor a specialized function other than normal functions respectively, anda transmitter that transmits information representing measured operatingtime and specialized function usage time, and the receiving stationcomprises a receiver that receives transmitted information, and a feecalculating unit that calculates a rental fee for the constructionmachine based-on received information.